Residents are continuing their fight council plans to earmark greenfield land in their area for thousands of homes.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council's draft local plan includes several housing allocation sites on the north east edge of the city, from Packmoor to Milton.

Two of the most controversial sites, on either side of Norton Green, have been reduced in scale from a combined total of 3,097 homes to 520, following last year's first consultation.

But many residents who attended a consultation event in Norton said they were still unhappy with the proposals, as they will still mean losing greenfield land and increasing pressure on local highways and services.

Council leaders insist they are taking a 'brownfield first' approach as they look to meet Stoke-on-Trent's government-set housing target of 952 homes a year.

Norton resident Christine Tinsley, who was among those who attended the consultation event, believes the site allocations in the area contradict this stance.

She said: "This is environmental vandalism. The council are going against their own policies. They say their approach is brownfield first, but they're proposing to build hundreds of homes on Green Belt land.

"And they say they're in favour of sustainability and reducing carbon emissions, but these new estates will be reliant on people driving cars because there's no public transport."

Her neighbour Claire Holdcroft added: "I don't think there was every going to be 3,000 homes. They just proposed that originally so they could reduce it after the first consultation and claim that they've listened to people."

The latest version of the draft local plan allocates 250 homes to site BL10, east of Bemersley Road – formerly North Green North – and 270 homes to site BL7, north of Milton Works – formerly North Green South.

Other controversial sites in the area include Packmoor – which is subject to its own council masterplan – and the sprawling Chatterley Whitfield site, which has been allocated 1,750 homes.

Tom Sherratt is among a group of local campaigners organising public opposition to the greenfield site allocations in the areas around Norton.

They are urging thousands of residents in Norton, Norton Green, Milton, Ball Green and Packmoor to respond to the consultation.

But Mr Sherratt believes the campaigners have evidence on their side, as well as numbers, citing issues such as highway safety and a lack of local infrastructure.

He said: "Greenfield land is just the easiest, laziest option for building homes. It gives developers the fastest turnaround and the biggest profit.

"But we believe that the council is overlooking lots of brownfield sites in the area which they could have included in the local plan."

Norton estate resident Amanda Richardson does not believe there are sufficient amenities in the area to support hundreds more residents.

She said: "They might say that they'll make sure that new developments will bring improvements, but we never saw anything like that when they built Norton Heights. It just seems like residents here are being overlooked."

Once adopted, the local plan will guide all development in Stoke-on-Trent up to the year 2040.

The council is currently carrying out a regulation 19 consultation, which gives people the chance to comment on whether the plan is 'sound', legally compliant, and whether the authority has followed the correct procedure.

All responses to the consultation will be submitted to the planning inspector along with the final draft version of the plan for examination.

People can have their say on the local plan by visiting the council website, emailing [email protected], or writing to Planning policy team, Stoke-on-Trent City Council, Civic Centre, Glebe Street, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 1HH. The consultation will run until Monday, 14 September.